In the early morning the little tavern was engulfed in silence again. Sasahara sat in one of the chairs, her heels on a table and a cigarette casually between her lips. Her gaze lingered on the ceiling, her eyes far from fixated. The scene of how the nine girls left her establishment just a couple of minutes ago replayed itself over and over again in her mind. How half of them had been bickering to just stay out of each other's way and how the other half had just seemed utterly terrified or just not interested.
Sitting upright and taking the cigarette between her fingers, she smiled solemnly.
"I hope you know what you're doing."
The main street was empty. No one dared to take a step outside and the members of the Nishikino household had left the previous day. Which left the nine members of Sakura Heaven all alone on the dusty road in front of the fountain.
While Kotori, Hanayo and Honoka sat by the water, as much in the background as possible, the others stood or leaned against a wall, as much space as possible between them.
Nico, being the one at the far front, impatiently walked around. "Where the hell is this guy?"
"He won't appear just because you want him to." Standing at the other side of the street, Maki's gaze looked in the far distance in case their enemy entered the town.
"I am not talking about this golem-guy." All eyes wander to the raven haired mage. "I am talking about Mamoru. Did you guys see him since we left the tavern?"
"Now that you mention it..." Everyone started to look around but no one was able to see the former master of their guild nearby.
He had left with them, walking out of the tavern at last. On the way to their current location no one had paid that much attention what was going on behind them, so neither of them noticed the old man disappearing.
A high scream suddenly made them jump and Eli and Umi instantly got into a fighting stance. When they turned to where the scream came from they saw Hanayo on her knees with tears in her eyes.
"When... when Mamoru-san isn't here w-w-we... we will stand no chance..."
The blonde and the navy haired girl relaxed and frowned. "If you can't handle it, go back to the guild." Eli sneers, making Hanayo cry even more.
"And more importantly, we don't need him. You have the world's best mage with you." Nico announced proudly.
"And the world's best mage jumps out of her skin and falls down on her butt upon hearing a mere scream?" Eli crossed her arms above her chest and looked rather sceptically at Nico, who blushed deeply.
"I stumbled, that's all." The black haired mage averted her gaze.
"Yeah, because the best stumble while not walking." With an arrogant and amused smile on her face, Eli walked past Nico.
"Could you please stop bickering?" Just like the day before, Honoka tried to calm them down, but without Mamoru around it was just not possible. He was the only one the three troublemakers would listen to. So all she could do was comforting Hanayo together with Kotori.
"Honestly, I'd prefer if you keep on going, because it's just way too funny to watch you guys."
All their eyes turned up to the roof of a nearby house. But with the sun directly in front of them, they had to squeeze them almost shut to be able to see anything. All that they could make out was a black silhouette.
"Well, if you don't want to, maybe I should keep this party going? How about it?" The person jumped down and landed upright on the street right in front if them.
With the shadow of the house falling upon him, the girls were able to see the newcomer. He sported short, mussy black hair and wore an ugly smirk on his face. Dark brown eyes stare in their direction while an old worn cloak covered the rest of his body, hiding the rest of himself away.
"May you please tell us who you are?" Walking to the front of their group, Umi fixated her eyes on the stranger.
A laughter made its way over to them. The person started to walk up and down without even looking at the mages in front of him. "Who might I be? What do you think?"
He paced in front of the building he hopped down from. His finger tapped his chin as if he was thinking hard about an answer. All the while he kept one eye on the nine girls in front of him. When no one answered him, he stopped and turned to them, his fists in his hips in mock annoyance.
"Come on, if you don't play along, this won't be fun!"
Again silence greeted him.
"Ok, I'll give you a hint." He slightly bowed forward, as if telling a child a secret. "I like to play with dirt and love to create beings. Does this ring a bell?"
As if on cue, an ice shard flew towards him, aimed at his head. He leaned his head slightly to the left and the shard passed him, missing him by an inch. The icy cold that came with the shard grazed his skin and made him shiver slightly.
A small smirk appeared on his features as he faced a certain blonde, icy dust emitting from her hands.
"Seems like you're more interested in other games. But to reward your first question with an answer… finally."
With a sweeping motion he threw his arms in the air before his right came to a stop in front of his stomach while his left pointed to the side. He took a step back with his left leg and bowed deeply. "Jurek Alumii, master of the earthly creatures at your service."
Looking through the strands of hair that had fallen into his vision, he saw how the blonde, a navy haired, a small black haired and a ginger got ready. He had to admit that their stances were pretty good, allowing them to react to whatever an opponent might be up to. They had turned their bodies slightly to the side, reducing what could potentially be targeted while their leg positions allowed them to dodge. They were just good, not perfect, but they're useless if not being attacked head on. Something he wouldn't even dream about doing.
What caught his attention afterwards were the other five mages. The redhead didn't seem like she was about to do anything to engage in combat with him. Instead she backed away, but kept her eyes focused on what's happening around her. Jurek started to wonder what she was up to.
Three others, a grey heard girl, someone with glasses and another ginger with a side ponytail however clearly tried to get away. They were slowly walking to the side, probably aiming for one of the alleys nearby. They were backed up by a purple haired girl who looked for something in her small bag.
The situation, he concluded, was certainly in his favour. "Oh man, to think that a guild would send something like you to defeat me." He would concentrate on the four girls ahead of him. They seemed to be at least a little bit capable. "Well then, I think I've played my game long enough. Let's get serious."
Straightening back up Jurek snipped with his fingers. The ground beneath him started to shake a little and loose stones cracked off of the buildings around them to gather right before him in two separate piles. "Come forth, my servants."
The stones and earth started to form a humanoid creature that was slightly more than double the height Eli, the tallest of the group, possessed. Once the golems had been built their eyes flashed a bright red. Stomping on the ground they howled once with a deep voice before their gaze settled on the mages before them.
Rin and Nico looked up, their heads already meeting the back of their necks. "Wow. That's a really tall guy, nya."
"Yeah. Seems like life likes to remind me that I am not tall." Nico deadpanned.
A sly grin made its way onto Rin's face. "In more than once aspect, nya."
Turning around to face the younger girl with a death glare, Nico crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest. "As if you are one to talk, Hoshizora."
"If you'll ever finish bickering you might like to watch me deconstructing these things." The voice of a familiar blonde interrupted their talk and they turned around to see Eli and Umi preparing their magic.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Umi took a step forward. "You might regret it."
The two of them dashed forward the second Umi finished her sentence. Once she was directly in front of the golem, Eli jumped to be on the same level as its head. Directing her left fist onto her right palm an ice blue coloured magic circle appeared. "Ice Make: Eagle!" Moving her still joined hands to the front, an eagle made out of pure ice was released and crashed into the golem with a little explosion. As an effect of the impact, the giant tumbled backwards a little.
"Bulls' eye." Smirking, Eli prepared to land on her feet again, but never got the chance. Out of the dust her attack had generated she saw a stone fist. Not being able to react fast enough, the golem hit her and Eli was thrown back into a building.
"Told you you might regret it." Umi extended her right arm to the side with her palm wide open. A navy blue magic circle appeared, and took the shape of a sword. "Reequip: Stealth Sword!" A katana appeared once the faint glow disappeared. Umi grabbed it with both her hands before slashing down from right to left, aiming at the second golem's leg. "Stealth Cut!"
Being a couple of feet away from her target, Umi's sword never touched anything. Nonetheless there was an impact, separating a lot of material from the golem's leg. But before this instability could have any further effect, the leg was repaired by surrounding earth.
"What?" Not even getting the chance to voice any further surprise Umi had to raise her blade right in front of her to defend a punch that would have sent her flying like Eli.
While Eli got up again, Nico clapped her hands in mock applause. "Wow, impressive. Let the great Nico-nii deal with that."
Raising both her hands over her head, thumbs and index finger touching, a small stream of sand followed Nico's movements. "Sand Rush!" Turning around herself once, the raven haired mage swung her arms at her side before releasing a stream of sand to the direction both her hands were pointing at.
"Huh? That spell looks kinda familiar, nya." Rin noted as she watched the sand hitting its target.
Meanwhile, Nico smiled triumphantly. "How does this taste, shitty creature?"
"I'd say they enjoyed their meal." Jurek's amused voice made its way towards them, leaving Nico and Rin confused. "What does he me-"
When the rest of the sand floating in the air slowly dispersed, Nico had to notice that instead of taking damage the arm of the golem she had attacked got even bigger.
"Impressive indeed." Eli's strained voice was heard from behind Nico. "Attacking a golem made out of earth and stone with sand which is basically the same." The blonde stood up, stumbling little bit and holding onto her left arm.
"Elichi!" Nozomi called out to her, but the blonde just shoot her a glare which made the purple haired stop.
"None of your business, Tojo."
"Hey, where is Hoshizora?" Umi redirected all of their intentions back to the missing ginger. They looked around but couldn't see her. Not until they heard one of the golems groan and a flash of orange hair.
"How the hell did she get there?" Nico gaped.
In a split second Rin appeared in front of them again, flashed them a smile before she speeded off to the next golem again.
"Is she running?!" The raven haired mage shouted. "Athletics Magic? Really?"
Jurek watched the battle from a saver distance as Nico, Eli and Umi got back up again to continue fighting. They faced just two golems and yet they had their problems. They were powerful, but they didn't use their abilities efficiently. And their teamwork was from another dimension.
When Eli and Nico both attacked with a spell, they got in each other's way and cancelled their attacks out. An argument followed where they both shouted at each other, not paying attention to the battle in front of them.
"Damn, this is disappointing…" Muttering in an annoyed voice, Jurek commanded one of his golems to attack the two fighting mages. But when it lunged out with his fist to strike, it was stopped shortly right in front of them by a wall of ice. "What?"
With one of her arms extended in front of her, Eli's gaze wandered from Nico to the golem. She frowned visibly. "Excuse me, but we are in the middle of a discussion. Would you please back down?" She clenched her hand to a fist and sharp spikes grew out of the wall in a split second, piercing the fist made out of stone and earth with ease and destroying it in the process.
The golem cringed back with a deep cry and left its master in utter shock as well as Nico who stood right beside the blonde.
"On a second thought…" the raven haired girl started and took a few steps back, "let's get back to business."
"Fine with me, as long as you don't get in my way again." Eli allowed the wall to crumble down and rushed forward again, the next spell already visible by a magic circle.
Following the ice mage, Nico shouted back. "Not my fault that we are four mages and there are just two golems!" She focused on the enemy again before starting the next spell, scanning the damage that had been done by the spikes. "If sand doesn't work but ice does…"
Extending both hands to either side of her body, two magic circles appeared in each hand. But rather than being brown like before, those were blue. "Well then, eat this! Water Nebula!"
Two waves of water rushed up and blasted the golem back a couple of feet. The steady stream caused the material the creature was made of to be washed out.
Looking back at Nico, Eli looked somewhat surprised. "Wait a sec, that's the spell of… how does she… What?" Before she was able to comprehend what was happening, the golem crumbled down when his waist got to instable to keep it upright.
"Ha! See that, Ayase? Told you I wouldn't need you!" Nico smiled triumphantly with her right hand forming a victory sign while Eli gritted her teeth.
At the same time, Rin and Umi had their problems, too. Rin used her athletic magic to attack the golem from different spots nearly every second. But since Umi wasn't able to comprehend where the faster girl was heading she had almost cut Rin more than once. And now she was getting annoyed since she had to back down.
"Hoshizora, stop getting in my way! Literally!"
"Why should Rin, nya? I am efficient."
Umi couldn't argue that, but at this rate she wouldn't be able to strike properly to take the enemy down. Especially since she had an idea and Rin's method would take more time than necessary.
While watching Rin as best as she could, Umi reequipped another sword. "Serpent Sword." Appearing just like the first weapon, Umi grabbed the handle of a sword with an impressively long blade. She just had to wait for the right moment with enough space for her to attack with as less risk to hurt the other mage than possible.
When Rin made her way towards the back of the golem, Umi stepped into action. She moved straight ahead with her sword pointing back and stroked from right to left. Her blade cut cleanly through the golem's middle, making it crumble in front of her.
"Hey!" Rin protested from her position. "It was almost finished, nya!"
With her sword disappearing, Umi looked straight at the younger girl. "You have to be quick. Otherwise the tide might turn, in favour for your enemy."
Seeing both of his creations destroyed, Jurek smirked. "Well said, young mage." The four girls turned towards him, ready to ambush him. But they not just eyed him, but each other as well. He knew that each of them wanted to finish him off, being the one who solved the quest. And if they wanted to fight alone, he would grant that.
"How about we take this to the next level." He again snapped with his finger. The remains of his two golems started to rebuild itself while two additional piles of material were created. Now four golems stood in front of four mages.
"I thought he could create only three of them?" Nico pointed out while getting back into a fighting stance.
"You just complained about there being only two of them, Yazawa."
"Oh shut up, Ayase, and watch how fast I am going to take this one down. And you too, Sonoda, Hoshizora."
The four of them dashed forward again, each of them taking on one of the creatures. Jurek had to smile, seeing how naïve these girls were. Now that he had watched each of their abilities he could easily commanded his golems accordingly.
But more importantly now that his creations would stall the four most dangerous enemies, he could start to take down the others. His trump card would do an amazing job.
He looked for the three girls who had tried to hide at the beginning and saw them watching the battle from behind a corner. Who he couldn't see was the redhead, but he didn't care. He focused on the trio and snapped his finger again, smirking when they suddenly turned around.
Nozomi, who stood nearest to them, felt the ground shaking, too. She looked ahead, watching the four girls as they fought against a golem each, each of them having some problems. The golems obviously acted differently now, as if they got used to their attacks.
"Kyaaaaa!"
A scream made Nozomi turn and she saw Kotori, Hanayo and Honoka stumbling out an alley, fleeing from a fifth golem. "What? Another one?" She turned around to the others and shouted. "There's another one!" The four of them turned to her shortly but focused back to their opponents almost immediately. "Hey!"
"They should defend themselves! It's four versus one, isn't it?" Nico shouted back briefly.
Taking out some cards, the purple haired girl fritted her teeth. "Damn." She took three of them and focused. "Heaven, Reverse Death, Mountain! Summoned Lightening!" Using the cards like a fan, a magic circle appeared that summoned green lightning bolts, hitting the golem's left shoulder. She had tried to get its attention, but it still moved towards the other three girls.
Honoka, Kotori and Hanayo tried to back away as much as possible. The grey haired girl reached into her pocket and took out a golden key. But before she was able to use it, Hanayo stumbled and fell down.
"Hanayo-chan!" Honoka tried to reach her, but before she was able to, the golem lunged back and hit her the moment she stood back up. She managed to use her arms as protection but was still thrown backwards, right into Honoka and Kotori who caught her but fell to the ground regardless.
"Koizumi-san!" Nozomi ran to the three girls, but was stopped dead in her tracks when the golem stepped between her and the girls on the ground.
Eli, Nico, Rin and Umi had been alerted by the last shout as well and looked to them, losing their focus themselves. Jurek used that moment to command his creations to attack them and successfully pushed them backwards as well.
Jurek started laughing. "Look at you! Pathetic! Did you think it would be that easy to take me down?" With everyone but Nozomi on the ground and Maki not even being on the battlefield he took a step forward. "Now then, let's end this."
The moment all five golems wanted to strike a wall of earth rose from the ground, stopping each fist immediately.
"What the hell is happening now?" Jurek looked around. His eyes met with those of an older man on the opposite roof.
"Mamoru-san!" Nozomi was the first of the girls to notice him.
"Mamoru? Damn it… Don't tell me he is in charge of those girls." Knowing that he couldn't take down the well-known former master of Hidden Secret, Jurek decided to back down. "I wanted to depart after this either way. It'll suck without some goods from this raid, but it's better than being beat up by this monster."
The walls retreated back into the ground when Jurek started to make his way backwards. The moment he jumped back he saw a flash of red to his left.
Maki appeared out of an alley and reached out with her left hand. A golden bubble shot forwards and for a second Jurek feared that he had tried to escape too late. But once the bubble touched him it disappeared into thin air. It didn't hurt and he couldn't see any other effect.
"Whatever that was…" he muttered and vanished behind a building, out of sight from the Hidden Secret mages.
Nico was the first back on her feet. "We have to chase him!" She attempted to take a step but someone grabbed her left wrist and stopped her. Turning around she looked at Mamoru.
"There are more important things to deal with at the moment." He pointedly looked to the side. Following his glance Umi, Nico, Rin and Eli watched how Kotori and Honoka helped Hanayo while Nozomi just stood at the side.
"Hanayo-chan, are you ok?" Honoka kneeled in front of the younger girl who held her left arm with a pained expression and tears streaming down her cheeks. All she could do was shake her head while Kotori comforted her.
Approaching the trio, Maki kneeled down as well. "May I take a look?" Once Hanayo nodded, the red head started to examine the injury as gentle as possible. After a moment she looked up again. "I can't tell for sure but I guess it's broken. I can treat it, but we have to go back to the tavern since I left some stuff I'll need there."
Before any of them could mutter protest, Mamoru decided what to do. "Then we'll head back. No buts."
The atmosphere in the tavern was heavy. Everyone who would walk in would be able to tell. It was deadly silent except for the occasional sobs of Hanayo while Maki put the girls arm in a splint.
"What a disgrace." Nico muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "We would have been able to deal with this but noooooooo… Some people just get in the way."
Remembering their problem earlier, Eli felt like being accused and snarled back. "Thank goodness you are able to tell that you were the problem."
"What?!" The raven haired mage stood up, sending the chair she was sitting in to the ground with a loud thud. "If your attack wouldn't have cancelled out mine this golem would have fallen way earlier than it did! Just like the second one that was about to get wrecked by me."
"Oh please, you couldn't handle the second one at all!"
"As did you!"
"You looked both pretty beaten, nya!" Rin commented, which caused her to be targeted as well. This time by Umi.
"Don't pretend like you weren't a problem. I almost cut you in half like what? Ten times?"
"How about you aim better, nya?"
Sasahara and Mamoru sat at the counter and watched them and sighed deeply. The four of them engaged in a heated argument who was at fault for this failure, each of them refusing to see that everyone was to blame. But it seemed like they agreed on one thing.
"Why are we even arguing about us? How about the ones who didn't even care and rather hid than helped. Or disappeared at all. Not that we would have needed it, but still!" Nico threw her arms in the air glaring at Maki, Hanayo, Kotori and Honoka.
While Maki looked like she didn't care and instead twirled some of her red locks around her finger, Kotori and Hanayo glanced at the floor ashamed. Honoka on the other hand was like a statue.
"Let's not forget the reason why we lost the chance to actually successfully end this mission, ultimately making this a failure." Eli pointed out while looking at Hanayo with a dark glare. The younger girl started crying again.
Umi, Rin and Nico looked at her, too, but while Rin immediately looked away rather shocked and somewhat ashamed once she saw the other girl in such a state, Umi and Nico nodded, agreeing with the blonde mage.
"Not moving a finger but causing this mission to fail. Great. Are you happy?"
Before Hanayo could answer Nico, the ground started to shake.
"What the? Is he coming back?" Glancing around in panic, Umi readied herself.
Cracks were forming and parted parts of the floor and spread towards the walls. When the navy haired mage followed those cracks she saw where they connected and where their origin was. And once she realized, her eyes widened.
The source of those destruction stood right in front of them, in the middle of the room. She had her hands clenched into fists, knuckles white and head bowed so that no one could see her face. But just from the amount of cracks and the force of the quake everyone could tell that Honoka was angry.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She had started quietly, but Honoka had shouted the last part of her question. Her body was shaking as well. "What the hell is wrong with you for you to be able to do nothing but fight each other?! What is wrong with us?! Aren't we at least comrades in arms? As members of the same guild?"
Everyone in the room looked at the ginger in awe. No one had expected such an outburst. But thankfully with Honoka starting to voice her thoughts the ground had stopped splitting and shaking. Still, they were all speechless.
"I don't know why you do what you are doing, but is it worth that other people are getting hurt in the process? And that you just accept it?!"
By now tears were streaming down Honoka's face. They gathered in a small pool on her chin before dropping down.
"Aren't Minami-san and Mamoru-san always telling us that a guild is just like family? That we have to care for each other? So what now? What are we for hurting our family members or for allowing them to get hurt? Some sort of monster?"
She finally looked up, sadness and anger all over her face. "If you were with the ones you love… would you do the same? What do you think they would think of you? That you don't care about others? And what would they say, hm?"
The room was silent again. No one dared to say a word. Instead everyone was looking at the floor except Honoka who stood there, head held high but still crying.
The silence lasted a couple of moments before applause echoed through the tavern. Everyone turned around to face its source – Mamoru.
"I couldn't have said it better. No – I doubt I would have said something this meaningful." He dropped his hands into his lap again.
"You are right, Honoka-chan. You are members of the same guild. But now you're not just a group, you're a team that has been send on a mission together. But for a team of nine people with so many different personalities to function properly… you'll need a leader." He said.
"And you were sent with us to be the leader, am I right?" Umi asked.
Mamoru laughed. "Oh no. I am just your guide. Hana… I mean Minami, had thought that something like this would happen and that you might need some sort of, well, guidance." He smiled fondly. "But you'll need a leader, that's certain. Someone who understood the principles of our guild. The one who first had the courage to oppose the way you were acting."
His eyes met Honoka's. "Someone who hasn't realized yet that she would be a great leader."
Honoka's eyes widened and she looked at the old master in shock while he just smiled at her.
"That's great and all." Nico suddenly said. "But where's the point? He's gone. We've failed. End of mission."
"Not quite." Everyone turned to Maki. "Remember that bubble I shot at him? It may have been magic that allows me to track him down."
"You can do that?" Nozomi asked.
A small golden magic circle appeared before Maki. She tapped it once and the circle grew into some sort of screen with an interface and a keyboard. "It's called Archive and allows me to store any sort of information as magical data. I can access these whenever I need them… and when I mark someone like I did earlier I can track his or her movements."
Everyone looked at Maki in awe and Rin even muttered a quiet "Awesome."
"Now then… How about you all think about what has been said before you get out to end this mission successfully?" Mamoru said and turned around to grab another beer from a shelf nearby.
Eli sat alone on a destroyed building's rooftop. Even though she wasn't as sensitive to the cold as others thanks to her magic's nature, the blanket around her shoulders provided a pleasant amount of warmth.
"What would they think about me?" A sad and rare smile made its way onto her features. The blonde hugged her knees tight and rested her chin upon them.
She didn't like to think back on her past. If she was brutally honest, everything that happened left a big invisible scar on her. She was aware that her cold nature pushed people away from her. But she never reflected on her own actions. Maybe the others pushed her back because she had pushed them first.
An image of a small child with slightly damper blonde hair and darker blue eyes appeared in front of her. A memory of happier days, with her little sister. Thinking about it, she used to smile more often, especially around her. She would have never wanted someone to get hurt, except someone had hurt her or her family first.
But now? She didn't even care about Hanayo's injury. She had taken it for granted, people got injured during a battle, didn't they? But was it her fault? Maybe. Up until now she had only thought about her one goal. Everything left and right of her path didn't seem to be important.
Was this really what she needed to do to achieve her goal?
"Cute and clever Elichika, hm?" Ironic, that the nickname she thought of being annoying and that Nozomi had bestowed upon her was so close to the nickname she had loved when she had been a small child, Eli thought. A nickname her grandmother had given her.
Leaning her head back she looked into the sky and searched for one specific star. "Would you still love you big sister if you'd know what she's doing…. Alisa?"
Never had the cards not told her what to do. Never had they refused to answer her question. It was a situation Nozomi never had been faced with. Yet, here she was, after her tenth drawing, still with nothing of use.
The purple haired girl sighed and shuffled her cards absentmindedly. Honoka's question still lingered in her mind. But how was she supposed to answer that? Ever since she was a small child she had been with the guild. Most of her lifetime she had spent in the guild. Even though the other members did their best to make her feel a part of all of this, she never had been able to think of all of this of home. She never had one. Her parents had been merchants, traveling around all the while, occupied with their goods and clients. She was basically raised by strangers on the markets and the books she had read while hiding in the guilds library.
It was only natural that she didn't know, couldn't imagine, what people close to her would say about her now, and that the concept of a proper family was unknown to her despite her being with the guild for so long.
"Maybe… if I'd ask another question…?" Instead of looking back into the past, Nozomi tried to look ahead. To predict her own future was something she was afraid of. She never wanted to know what fate had in store for her, scared that she wouldn't be able to change it.
She decided to lay out three cards in total. Taking a deep breath, Nozomi started to shuffle her deck before she laid out the three cards on top. She looked at them while her hand roamed over the cards that lay face down on the table in front of her.
She turned around the first one: upward 'Lovers'. Nozomi furrowed her brow. The lovers symbolized a choice she had to make and that she had to trust her own heart with this. It was the first time she had drawn this card for herself.
Turning around the second card, the upward 'Wheel of Fortune' appeared. A symbol to embrace whatever may happen by harmonizing herself with the fate ahead. Nozomi hesitated. She knew that without the third and last card, this could mean everything. And yet, she already had an idea what the cards tried to tell her.
With the third card, her heart skipped a beat: upward 'Death'. Unknown to most of the people, the death-card didn't symbolize death literally. It symbolized an end, sure. But not the end of everything. Change may have been a better explanation.
With this spread before her, Nozomi sighed. If she made a choice, the right one, and accepted it with her heart, the life she knew up to this point was bound to change.
"But do I really want to?" If she was honest, Nozomi was just afraid to be hurt again, to be left alone. Right now, if she really decided to embrace what was in front of her, she was bound to get hurt again. "But if they were to change, too…."
She collected her cards again. This time she would try to walk the path Honoka's question had opened up for her.
Maybe walking around town late at night wasn't a good idea, Rin thought. But right now she just needed to be alone, needed to breathe some fresh air.
The air in this town smelled differently than in the village she called home. When she was a child, Rin had loved to explore the forest nearby, sometimes arriving back home when the moon had already been at its peak. But her parents had never scolded her. They had merely given her advice about how she had to react in certain situations.
Strength was something important in her family. Their bloodline was the only one in the village that was able to bring forth mages. They had to protect the village, they had explained when she had been presented with a bag. The very same bag that would keep her belongings during her journey. They never had asked her if she wanted to, which she didn't. But she had never questioned that either.
Never had she questioned the meaning of strength.
If she was to return now, would her family be proud of her growth? Proud what she had become? Did strength equal physical abilities?
Honoka's words had confused her. Up until now it had been this simple equation: strength is physical power. But Honoka had presented her another option: teamwork and being together with others. The memory of Hanayo crying still pained her somehow.
Rin stopped in the middle of the street and looked up at the stars. They were her guide on her journey. She'd always reached for them. "But does Rin have to do this on her own, nya?"
She remembered her father telling stories of his journey. He never was alone, he always had comrades he talked about.
"Maybe… I've misunderstood everything, nya." Maybe it was time to strive for another type of strength.
Nico sat on the main plaza upon the fountain. She was observing a family through a window, how they sat together, smiling and talking with each other.
Honoka had made her think. The question repeated itself over and over again in her mind. Would she be acting like this with her family around? The answer was obvious. Of course she wouldn't. She was the oldest of three siblings, the one trying to gain what money the family needed to afford living.
Her mother couldn't work anymore. After her little brother, the youngest of them all, had been born she stayed at home. Refusing to tell Nico why she wasn't able to do anything but the household anymore, even though it was obvious that it had something to do with her father, the raven haired mage had decided to take care all on her own.
She would do anything to grant her family a life with as much comfort as possible, even if she had to accept the most dangerous quest.
At home, she was the loving sister, not wanting any of them to get hurt.
And yet, here she sat. Just a couple of hours ago she had accepted someone else to get hurt because all she could think of was the reward and how it would help her family.
"When did I turn into this, caring that much about money?" Gritting her teeth Nico thought of how right Umi and Eli had been. Even though they didn't know about her background, the way she acted really made it seem like she just wanted to make as much money as possible.
Nico pinched her left cheek and cried out in pain. That was what she deserved for being such an idiot. "Come on, Nico. You're one of the oldest, so take care of the younger ones!"
Her eyes drifted back to the tiny family again. She smiled contentedly before she slid down from her position to get back to the tavern.
The blade always shone beautiful in the pale moonlight, Umi thought, as she cleaned the metal. It truly was a masterpiece. She had battled against solid rock and there had yet to be a single permanent scratch. She shouldn't been surprised though, seeing that her father was the blacksmith who forged the 'Stealth Sword'.
Thinking about her father Umi lowered her tools, her gaze becoming solemn. How long has it been since she had left home, she wondered. Did her family even care?
As a Sonoda she had been fated to be proficient in many areas from the moment she was born. When it was discovered that she could use magic the pressure on her had become even greater with her family having even higher expectations.
But she always had one flaw.
Thus she had decided to be even better than she should be, to work harder than she needed to. But whatever she'd done, the people around her always thought of it as being normal. She was a Sonoda after all. That had made her think. What other way was there to achieve the respect one longed for?
In the end she had decided to leave. She would try to be known all around the kingdom, so that she could finally show the people she wanted to know that she was more than just a Sonoda and worth of everything they valued.
But was someone who allowed a person to get hurt physically and who hurt a person emotionally worth to be respected? Umi knew the answer and she hated herself for being an idiot. She had been hurt, too. That was part of the reason she had left. And now she was the same.
Honoka had opened up her eyes. And she would repay what she owed the other girl, now and in the future.
Golden keys were rather rare. With only twelve of them existing, every Celestial Spirit Mages wished to own at least one of them. They were able to summon the Zodiac Spirits, some of the strongest allies one could wish for.
It wasn't the first time that Kotori wondered why she owned two of them while polishing all her keys.
She had received the first golden key when she had turned ten. Apparently her grandmother had owned it, but her mother had never been able to use Celestial Spirit Magic. That's why Kotori had become its keeper. She understood that and she would keep it, seeing that it was a heirloom.
But the second key had somewhat found its way to her on its own, seeing that the spirit within had asked for a contract with her the moment they had met. Kotori had wanted to give this key to someone who would use it properly, but the spirit didn't accept a 'No.'. Yet it was just coincidence that she had stumbled upon it in the archive of an old church she had visited on one of the few missions she had accepted.
Sure, she was the guild master's daughter. With her mother being one of the strongest mages in her generation and a prodigy in magic, everyone had expected Kotori to be a prodigy as well. But truth be told: she wasn't. She had tried but except Celestial Spirit Magic nothing would answer her call as her teacher had put it. Despite that, she had been granted with a huge amount of magic power. But what for?
She was gentle, hated fighting, and would rather run away and hide than getting into trouble. She was shy and calm and wouldn't start a conversation on her own. And yet everyone expected her to be the next master.
"Honoka-chan would fit this position better than me, but…" She put the cloak she used to clean her keys with away and gently turned the item around so that it would reflect the light of the candle beside her.
"…but I can't run away forever." The incident with Hanayo and Honoka's speech had given her the courage she had always needed. "If I want to protect them, I'll just have to try."
"Damn it, damn it, damn it." It wasn't like her to get this nervous, Maki thought. But here she was, walking up and down in the tavern's backyard.
She had to hold back her laughter when Honoka had finished her rant. It was just so ridiculous that it was almost sad. She knew exactly what her family would think of her right now. And it would definitely be quite the opposite of what the older girl had expected it to be.
Well, she couldn't expect them to understand in the first place. They hadn't been raised like her and their social statuses were from different dimensions each. Not that Maki cared. If she cared she wouldn't dig a furrow in the backyard of an old and shabby tavern by the name of "Old Roger's Tavern".
After all, her social status restricted her more than she gained freedom.
She had understood that years ago. Status and wealth weren't worth a single coin if you were bound to your family's obligations and responsibilities. You were allowed to have dreams of your own but you had to keep dreaming because you'd never get the chance to fulfil them. You basically lived in a golden cage.
Breaking free was one way to escape this cage. But with this decision came several risks. One of them she had to face yesterday when those underlings of the Nishikinos had rested in this town. So she had hid. That was all she would ever do. Hiding.
That wasn't why she had escaped her cage. She didn't want to be a coward but being a cowards was all she did. She wanted to live her dream rather than just dreaming. But ever since she took a step out into the wide world Maki hadn't made any progress at all.
Sure, she had learned a lot of medical skills while working with Konoe, the medical advisor of the guild. That's why she had been able to treat Hanayo earlier. But that wasn't what she wanted to do, even if she enjoyed it.
"Do I want to be a coward or do I want to finally be able to fulfil that one wish? Damn it, why does this have to be so difficult."
Recalling Honoka's words Maki stopped and took a deep breath. "A family, huh? Would be nice to have one who actually cares. Maybe…" Maybe she would stop being a coward.
Even though it still pounded as if her arm had a heart of its own and thus still hurt quite a bit, Hanayo had to admit that Maki had done a really good job.
After Mamoru had suggested that they should think about their situation a little, everyone had left the main room of the tavern except for her. Sasahara had brought her a cup of tea before she disappeared as well. She could only speculate what all the others were doing at the moment.
Hanayo was dealing with her own thoughts at the moment. Triggered by Honoka she tried to remember her real parents, but just like every other time her subconscious refused to come up with pictures and memories.
Becoming an orphan at a very young age, Hanayo lived with several families until Minami took her with her to the guild. No one ever treated her nice because she'd always been rather weak and fragile despite her showing a talent for magic at an even younger age. Unfortunately she didn't have control over her powers back then and thus had become somewhat afraid of it. While she was able to handle her magic now, her physical 'problems' were still the same.
Therefore she knew exactly what every single family she stayed with would think and it would never be anything positive.
That's why she couldn't blame Eli and Nico when they had said it was her fault. Sure, she was sad because she felt like she was a burden. She probably was. But it hurt that because of her everyone else had failed. It hurt even more than her arm.
"I just don't want to be a bother again…" Hanayo muttered after taking a sip from her tea. She laid her hand flat on the table and watched how a single flower grew out of her index finger. That was her magic. It was gentle but it also was destructive, whatever she preferred.
Maybe it could be protective as well.
Ever since she left the tavern and saw the damage she had caused and the possible destruction this could have ended with, all Honoka did was staring at her still shaking hands.
She hated it. She hated that she could be such a danger to the people around her. Remembering the day her own father brought her to the guild, scared just as much as she had been was painful. She still thought that it had been a miracle that no one had died when the building she called home crumbled down.
And ultimately she had seen it in their eyes. In her mother's, in her father's and in her sisters'. The fear and the panic. How they had stepped back when she had been approaching them.
"I'm a damn hypocrite, am I not?" Honoka's voice was strained from keeping her tears at bay.
She had called them monsters even though she already was a monster. She had asked them what their loved ones thought of them when she already knew the answer of her own family.
"How can he even think of me as a leader? I am nothing like that!" Clenching her fists and bringing them to her finally wet eyes, Honoka slid down the wall behind her.
From the moment she had stepped inside the guild hall and had been accepted by Minami-san as a member, Honoka would keep her distance. She was too afraid to hurt someone. No one was allowed to touch her, everyone had to keep distance.
She was said to be shy while back at home she was full of energy. She would run around all day and get into trouble, helping everyone she could think of. Now she was just a shadow of the girl she once was.
"I wonder… if the others ever had the chance to choose their magic." She was jealous, she had to admit. With no control over a magic she didn't even want to have, what was she supposed to do?
"How am I supposed to lead when I don't even know where I am heading myself?"
Honoka didn't know how late it actually was once she saw the tavern in front of her, just that the stars and the moon at the night sky did an amazing job in illuminating the streets. A faint light shone out of the closed windows, telling her that some people were still awake.
With her hands she got rid of the last traces of her tears before she walked towards the front door. No one had to see that she had been crying. But when she stepped into the room, her eyes widened.
Everyone was there. Not just Mamoru and Sasahara, but the other eight girls, too. They turned around to face her once they heard the door open, some of them smiling at her while others looked as disinterested as ever.
"What is everyone doing here?" Honoka still stood in the entrance rather awkwardly.
Umi sat at a table close by, her arms crossed above her chest as she looked at the ginger haired mage. "We still have to make a decision, remember? And since you play a major role we couldn't get started without you."
"Now then." Mamoru started as he turned around at the counter. "I'll make it quick. You still need to rest if you plan on fighting a second time."
Reaching out with her left arm, Honoka took a step forward. "Wait! Can we talk about it a-"
"Everyone in favour of Honoka Kousaka being this teams leader during this mission please raise your hand."
With Mamoru's request everyone raised a hand except Honoka herself. "-little bit more…"
She looked around in shook, taking in everyone's expression. Kotori showed her a thumbs up alongside her encouraging smile and even Maki, who normally acted as if she didn't care, had her hand in the air and a small smile tugging at her lips.
"You can't be serious…" She couldn't believe it. Just minutes ago she had questioned herself and now everyone wanted her to be their leader. "W-Why? Why me? Mamoru-san, tell them I can't!"
"This is not my decision, Honoka." The old master replied. "And I guess it is not my job to tell them what you want me to."
"Whatever your personal issue is at the moment", Nico interrupted. "If it has something to do with you not fighting; that shouldn't be a problem. And I don't think that we made our choice based on that."
"Yazawa's right." Eli stepped forward from where she stood at the side lines. "It's rather trivial, to be honest."
"Honoka-chan?" Kotori's calm voice made Honoka look up. "Once we'd been alone, all of us started to think. About what you'd told us and… about ourselves." She stood up and approached the other girl. Once she stood right in front of her she took Honoka's hands and squeezed them as reassurance. "We all came to some conclusions. One of them that we want you to guide us through this battle. Maybe not as some sort of general, but as support. Your words affected us more than you might think and the fact that you've reached us all is enough for us to trust you to make the right decisions."
Kotori showed a brilliant smile to Honoka. "You think you could do that?"
It was the first time in years that Honoka had allowed someone to take her hands while she had been such an emotional mess and thus didn't have complete control. But Kotori had managed to calm her down – enough that she could make the first decision.
"Ok then. I… I'll do it."
What she hadn't expected was Kotori and Hanayo, who had stood up as well at some point, to hug her tightly. And what she had expected less was Rin joining them.
When they separated, the young orange haired mage scratched her neck nervously, keeping most of her attention on Hanayo. "I – uhm…. Rin's sorry for what happened, nya. Please don't be angry… Rin's just lost focus what was more important."
Smiling at each other, Kotori, Honoka and Hanayo captured Rin for another hug.
"Don't expect me to get all friendly." The bundle of people turned around to meet the gaze of Eli. "If beating this guy means working together, so be it. But we're not going to be friends."
"Count me in on that, too. If you need my service, I'll always help you. But that's it." Umi said.
Everyone turned around to look at Nico, the last of the four more aggressive mages. Confused, she looked back until she knew why they were watching her. "Well… I wouldn't mind as long as you don't get in my way. The great mage Nico-nii still needs to be awesome after all."
Hanayo and Kotori just smiled at her while Rin and Honoka cheered.
Nozomi sat in silence and watched Eli. When the ice mage noticed her staring she turned around with a deep frown. "What?"
"Nothing, I just thought that being alone doesn't suit you." Forcing a smile, Nozomi looked at Eli.
The blonde snorted in return. "If you don't mind… Take care of yourself first before you try to give me advice."
Before Nozomi could answer, Maki interrupted the scene. "Now that we decided on teamwork we should plan a strategy." Using her archive magic she opened up a screen and an interface. "First we should know what magic we're using each. That will make it easier to coordinate ourselves."
With a swift movement of her arms, Maki enlarged the screen in front of her for everyone to see its contents. Currently it showed a picture of the girls each, with Maki's being accompanied by a note.
"Archive and… Dispel?" Hanayo read aloud.
Maki nodded. "Archive is a really passive magic, but I wanted to be able to at least defend myself somehow. Dispel causes the negation of a spell and is quite useful at times. If Ayase would launch an ice shard at me I would be able to negate it… probably." Seeing the smile on Eli's face, Maki glared at her. "Don't you dare try it."
Nico kept looking at the screen. She had sat down on a chair, her face in her hand and elbow resting atop a table. "Seems pretty lame to me."
Maki redirected her glare at Nico but before she could answer herself, Sasahara chimed in. "Not necessarily. Just because Ichinose-san choose magic that was not designed for combat, she is not weak. I take it that the amount of information you can save with Archive is limited by your magic power?"
"Correct. I have yet to use all my memory so I don't know about the real amount." Typing into her interface, Maki selected the next portrait. "Anyways… Hoshizora, you're next. What's your magic?"
Rin smiled brightly and jumped from one foot to the other. "High Speed, nya!"
Beside her picture appeared the name of said magic. Looking at the younger girl, Umi muttered a quiet "Figured as much." before her attention was brought back by Maki humming a response and asking Hanayo for her magic.
"G-Green Magic." Shifting in her seat, Hanayo looked at the floor rather nervously.
"Wait a second." Eli interrupted. "How is she supposed to fight with a broken arm?"
Everyone looked at the blonde mage and then at Hanayo. "She has a point…" Umi agreed.
"I-I know you think… that I am a burden. But… But I want to help! I can help! My plants are strong. I am sure I can use them in a defensive manner!" For the first time the other girls saw a determined look on Hanayo's face and Mamoru had to smile a little proudly.
"There you go." Adding Hanayo's information into her database, Maki selected the next person: Eli.
"Dynamic Ice Make."
"Dynamic? What does this mean?" Kotori turned around to look at Eli for an answer.
The blonde sighed. "There are two types of Ice Make Magic: Static and Dynamic. While the first one creates inanimate objects such as weapons or manipulates the area around its user, Dynamic Ice Make creates animated sculptures like animals."
Kotori looked at Eli in awe. "So… you could create an animal right here, right now?"
Using both her hands by placing one fist on her flat palm again, Eli casted her magic and in a split second a little mouse made out of ice appeared on the floor who ran around the room.
With bright eyes, Rin watched the little creature moving around her legs. "Awesome, nya."
"Yeah, yeah, impressive." Not even bothering to look at the scenario in front of her, Nico closed her eyes.
Raising her eyebrow, Maki looked at her. "And what is your oh so awesome magic, Yazawa?"
Nico grinned and looked around but didn't answer.
"She used Sand Magic before, nya." Rin raised her hand as if she were in school.
"Another time she used Water Magic." Eli looked at Nico with raised eyebrows as if she tried to figure something out. Nico just looked back, the same smirk on her face. "Both times the spells as well as the way she executed them looked familiar…" And as if she just figured it out, Eli smiled back triumphantly. "You're copying another person's magic, don't you? You can use Mimic, am I right?"
"I have to say I am a little disappointed you figured it out that fast but yeah, Mimic it is." That was the moment Nico realized something. "Wait, how did you know? That type of magic is rare as far as I had been told!"
"I am literally living in a library. How do you think I spent my time?"
"Before Yazawa and Ayase start a real fight, let's move on to Tojo." Maki interrupted the two mages loudly which earned her a deathly glare from both of them. But she didn't care.
Nozomi took out a deck of tarot cards and showed them to Maki. "Magic Card."
"Not bad…" The redhead muttered while she added the information. "Sonoda?"
"Requip – The Fighter."
"Why did you add that title?" Honoka looked at Umi with a confused expression.
"There is basic usage of Requip Magic with people being able to change into another sort of clothing. I am sure Mamoru-san can use that." She looked over to the old guild master for clarification. Once he nodded, Umi continued. "Skilled mages can use it to summon weapons or even armour in battle. If they have a unique style, they tend to add that. Seeing that I use this type of magic to equip different sorts of weapons to attack, I called my style 'The Fighter'"
"Sounds awesome again." Honoka looked at Umi with a sparkle in her eyes that caused Umi to look away with a huge blush on her face.
"Almost done. Minami-san, do you mind…?"
"Not at all." Smiling at Maki, Kotori took out her bundle of keys. "I can use Celestial Spirit Magic."
"Oh." Nozomi walked over to Kotori to examine the keys a little more. "I am kind of jealous. Even golden keys… You're a lucky girl, Kotori-chan." She said in a cheerful voice. A compliment that Kotori returned with a smile of her own.
"Are they special in some way?" Nico asked. "The golden keys."
"You bet they are." Nozomi silently asked for permission to hold the keys and Kotori gave them to her. "You see…" She held the golden keys between her fingers. "There are twelve of them. They enable you to summon the Zodiac Spirits who are the strongest Celestial Spirits." Returning the keys, Nozomi smiled again at Kotori. "Possessing two of them is really something to be proud of. Some people spent their lifetime to find one."
"Interesting." To say that she didn't care about those details was an understatement, so Maki just selected the last person on her screen: Honoka. "And last but not least…"
Everyone turned around to look at their new leader. With every gaze upon her, Honoka bowed her head. Now that she knew about all those incredible magic the others possessed, she thought that her own wasn't that great at all. Especially when she remembered what she could cause.
"Kousaka?" "Honoka-chan?" Voicing their concern or doubt all together didn't change Honoka's impression.
"Honoka-chan?" Hearing the voice of Mamoru, Honoka looked up to meet the old masters kind and encouraging gaze. He just nodded rather than saying anything.
Looking around, Maki was the last one Honoka watched. "Crash."
All eyes widened and even Maki stopped typing. "What?"
"My magic. Crash."
"This extremely powerful and extremely dangerous magic when it's not controlled properly?" Nico answered and moved a few centimetres back. Honoka nodded. "Please tell me you can control it." The raven haired mage almost pleaded.
Gulping, Honoka looked back at the floor. "Most of the time?"
"Most of… Most of?!" Nico shouted in surprise. "Great… Thanks for not telling us sooner!"
"Yazawa." Despite everything, Umi remained calm as she glanced at the both of them. "Nothing happened so far. So it's safe."
"I wouldn't say that." Eli interrupted and pointed at the floor. The cracks were still visible.
Tapping a small crack with her feet, Rin remembered what Eli was talking about. "The quake…"
"Yeah, that was me. Sorry… I-I probably should leave now before something happens." Honoka was about to turn around when a wall of ice appeared before her and someone grabbed her wrist. It was obvious who had created the wall. But looking around Honoka saw Kotori.
"Dangerous or not, we will handle it." Honoka didn't know why, but the calm smile of Kotori made her relax.
With the wall disappearing, Eli walked further into the room. "She's right. And since we just decided to make you the leader we will have to trust you. So don't back down."
Everyone nodded, agreeing to what Kotori and Eli had said. Tears started to gather in Honoka's eyes as she smiled. "Thank you."
"Now then… Let's plan our assault." Maki said and set her Archive into action.
Leaving the cave he had used as a hideout the past couple of weeks, Jurek sighed. Even though the girls were easy to deal with, summoning and controlling all five golems at the same time took its toll. He had wanted to leave the moment he had gotten back, but feeling as tired as he had, he decided to stay the night and leave in the early morning.
After all they wouldn't dare to approach him again after the disaster in the town.
He smiled when the thought about the battle. He felt pity. They had been sent here to deal with him despite them never standing a chance in the first place. Whoever thought that they would have been able to beat him sure was an idiot.
Looking at the sky, Jurek sighed. "At least they've learned their lesson."
"Sorry to disappoint you, but we didn't."
Upon hearing the voice Jurek turned around. His eyes widened once he saw the same nine girls he had beaten before him. A dozen of thoughts raced through his mind, but one screamed the loudest. "How did you find me?"
His gaze scanned every girl until it lingered on that red haired mage who carried sort of a golden orb in her right hand. She smirked and he knew what was going on. "You… You marked me with your last attack." He had thought it was just a lame excuse of an attack, but obviously he had been wrong.
"We won't lose this time. Prepare yourself." Umi extended her hand and everyone else tensed up visibly. They seemed more prepared than they had been the day before, Jurek had to admit.
Snipping his finger, Jurek clenched his teeth until his jaw hurt. No need to go easy on them, he thought. "Don't get ahead of yourselves. You should have let me go. Now I won't guarantee anything." His five golems started to form until they stood in front of him like one massive wall.
"Now!" With that command shouted by Eli, Honoka, Hanayo and Maki retreated backwards while Kotori and Umi moved to the left and the right each. That left Eli, Nozomi, Nico and Rin in the front row.
Jurek knew in an instant that they were prepared and had a plan. So this could be more difficult than the day before. Not that he cared as he commanded the golems to charge forward.
"Kouzumi!" Maki was almost finished with setting up her Archive when she turned to Hanayo to indicate that the other girl could use her magic as well.
Using her healthy arm Hanayo stretched it with her palm upwards. "Just call me Hanayo, please?" She didn't even watch the branch growing in her hand as she smiled at Maki. Once it reached a decent size Hanayo kneeled down and the tendril started to spread in every direction.
Maki watched with awe as a solid wall made out of roots started to surround them. When Hanayo added a roof, she and Maki were protected by an igloo-like construction with enough space between some branches to look at the battlefield. With the last gap closing behind them they looked at Honoka who remained outside and nodded.
Outside, Kotori shared a glance with Umi who nodded. She took out one of her golden keys, pointing it forward. "This is going to be a premiere for us, so please… Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
The gate opened with a magic circle and a black haired and tall man in a horse costume appeared. "Moshi moshi."
Umi just stared blankly at the figure, gaping. "Minami-san? Are you… serious?"
Smiling innocently, Kotori answered. "Sagittarius might seem strange, but he's actually pretty strong and an excellent archer."
"Nice to meet you." The celestial spirit greeted with a salute.
"Y-Yeah…" Still shocked, Umi concentrated back at the situation in front of her. She had a task she had to take care of. "Requip! Siren's Bow!" The one thing she had learned from battling those golems the day before was that they had a fair share of problems with water. Knowledge she would use to her advantage. "Well then, Sagittarius. Shall we?"
The spirit and the mage both took aim, with Umi's arrow being made out of pure water. A trait unique to the Siren's Bow she used. All that was left was waiting for a command.
Meanwhile, the other four were face to face with five golems. If they wanted to manage what they had agreed to in the morning they had to trust the others almost blindly. A fact that Eli and Nico had their problems with. Especially the ice mage, despite what she had told Honoka when she was about to walk away, rather worked alone.
"Can you hear me?"
Startled, everyone outside took a glance at the side.
"I can't believe this worked." Nico deadpanned.
"If someone would have trusted me from the very beginning we wouldn't have had to argue for a damn hour." Maki shot back in everyone's mind.
Turning around to the construction in the back, the raven haired mage glared back. "Sorry that being able to talk in someone's mind is something I associate with Telepathy and not with Archive!"
An alarming sound in her head made Nico turn back just in time to see that the golems had started moving. She barely avoided a punch by jumping to her left.
"Minami! Sonoda! Now!"
Upon getting the command from Maki, Umi and Sagittarius, with the command from Umi, shot their arrows at the second and fourth golem. Despite the spirit's arrow being a normal one, the strength behind the shoot left a lot of damage to the point where the impact on the right shoulder caused the arm to fall apart. Umi's arrow of water left a huge hole in the other one's chest.
"Keep at it and deal as much damage as possible."
Generating another arrow, Umi bent the bow again and aimed, hoping to provide as much support as she could.
On the other side Jurek gritted his teeth. It was like a whole other group faced him. They weren't the same and they actually worked together.
While the four who had remained in the front fought against five golems at once and were actually able to compete with his creations, the archers provided enough support to stop at least one golem every time. The whole situation was more even than he liked to admit. To make it even worse, the four girls fighting head on moved with such coordination that it was just not normal.
When Eli attacked one golem with a swarm of eagles made out of ice, Nico would have her back and fight of another foe with Water Magic. The same applied to the other two. They attacked but at the same time they defended each other as if they knew exactly where each and every one of them currently stood.
If he wanted to get out of here soon, Jurek would need to find a way to do so. Soon.
That was the moment his eyes lingered on the igloo like structure in the back. "Damn it…"
Meanwhile Eli, Nozomi, Nico and Rin managed to fight the golems successfully with the help of Kotori's celestial spirit and Umi. Maki told them each other's positions and those of the golems with her Archive at every given moment. Combined with commands and instructions she made an excellent supervisor.
The moment Eli and Nico turned around and faced the same golem they knew what they had to do without Maki telling them. And it seemed like Maki knew that, too.
"Tojo! Hoshizora! Take care of the golems left from Yazawa! Sonoda and Minami, distract the other two!"
While two arrows hit their target again, causing them to stumble backwards, Rin speed forward using her High Speed Magic to accelerate even further. She focused on the golem's chest. "Falcon Heavenward!" With a kick she send the golem literally flying.
Meanwhile Nozomi drew the Heaven and the Wind card from her deck and placed them upon each other. "Wind Edge!" A massive wave of wind hit the golem and forced it back by several meters.
With all the other golems distracted or unable to do anything, Eli and Nico could concentrate on the one right in front of them. Silently understanding each other, Eli moved forward and casted her magic. But rather than creating a specific shape, she just wanted it to be unable to move. So engulfing the golem's legs with solid ice was enough.
"Yazawa! Now!" Eli shouted while she dodged to the side.
A smirk appeared on her face. "Water Cyclon!" Just like the first time the day before, but a lot stronger, a torrent of water emitted from Nico's outstretched arms. The stream washed away the material the golem was made of, effectively destroying it.
Watching his golems being pushed back while one got destroyed, Jurek smiled. "Thanks for getting rid of one of them. Now I create another one…" His plan had been different, but this actually was in his favour. He didn't waste a second to create another golem behind the fighting quartet. He had to use more of his magic power, but if the result was worth it nobody cared in the end.
"Uhm… guys?" Maki's voice sounded slightly concerned. And when they all turned around they knew why.
Just in front of the shelter built out of Hanayo's plants stood a new golem. Its fist raised, it slammed down on the construction. All they could hear were Maki's gasps of shock.
"Sonoda-san, could you take care of this alone for a second?" Looking at Kotori, Umi saw the other girl being rather serious and nodded. And with the confirmation she needed, Kotori ran back towards Hanayo and Maki while closing the gate of her spirit and making Sagittarius disappear.
She stashed away the archer's key just to take out the second golden key she possessed. "I won't run away. I will try…" She whispered to herself. "Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!"
A female spirit with pink hair and curled horns appeared in front of Kotori. "You… uhm… you summoned me?"
"Yeah. Aries, I need your help. Could you please protect my friends in this structure?" The mage pointed at the vines. "Please!"
Albeit reluctantly, Aries nodded. "I-I'll do my best." Running of, the Celestial Spirit made sure not to draw the golem's attention before she got into action. "Wool Wall!" A thick cloud of pink wool separated the golem and the structure. And once the creature tried to punch again it got stuck.
Seeing this from the inside, Hanayo turned to Maki. "Do you trust me?" When Maki answered that she did, Hanayo dissolved parts of their shelter and stepped out, rounding the wool and heading for golem.
"Wait… Hanayo!" In shock, Maki could only watch when Hanayo let a small vine grew in her palm again. The girl ducked away under the golem and touched its leg with the vine in her hand.
In a matter of seconds branches started to grew all over the creature, some of them from the inside out, covering its entire body. When flowers started to bloom, Maki and Kotori were left in awe.
Right in front of them stood the golem, unable to move because Hanayo's vines captured it perfectly, with flowers all over it. It looked beautiful.
Hanayo turned around and smiled at the still stunned Maki. Walking back she rebuilt their shelter.
"Hanayo?" Said girl hummed in response. "That was… actually… really good." Maki said while turning back to her Archive. Hanayo's attack actually was better than just good. From the data she had collected Maki figured that their enemy could control five golems at the same time. If he wanted to create one while five were already in battle he had to wait for one of them to get destroyed. But Hanayo hadn't destroyed it, thus reducing the number of golems permanently.
Not that their plan included getting rid of them. They just had to wait for the perfect moment.
On the frontline however, Eli got impatient. She had noticed a change in Nico's and Nozomi's movements and had watched them ever since. And if her assumption was right they were slowly running out of time.
They were getting tired. Moving around constantly while attacking at the same time took its toll and Eli wasn't sure if Rin and she would be able to fight against four golems while getting tired themselves.
So the only option they had was for Rin and Eri to make the difference.
When they stood back to back for a moment, Eri began to think of a plan that was hopefully good enough despite being developed in just thirty seconds. "Rin? Did you see Tojo and Yazawa?"
"They're getting slower, aren't they, nya?"
"We'll never manage to offer her the opportunity she needs if they can't fight any longer while we're wearing ourselves out. We have to do something as long as we still can."
Rin nodded. "You have a plan, nya?"
"If there's a chance, can you slam one golem into another?"
"That should work. What about you, nya?"
"Leave it to me." Eli allowed herself a little smile. "Just shout if there's that chance."
The both of them had to separate again when a fist slammed down just in front of them. Eli hoped that it wouldn't take that long for such an opportunity to arrive. Until then they had to try to keep going while Umi and Sagittarius, who had been re-summoned by Kotori, kept supporting them.
Unfortunately they had underestimated how tired especially Nozomi really was. The girl struggled more and more and concentrated on defending rather than attacking. She started to lose the overview of what was happening, even with Maki trying to coordinate them.
And Jurek noticed that as well. "Now or never, ladies." He advised two of his golems, the ones closest to their target, to concentrate on the purple haired mage. They managed to trap her, with one right in front of her and the second one right behind her.
"Damn, Tojo!"
Maki's scream echoed through their heads and Eli glanced to where Nozomi should be. Her eyes widened for a second before she turned her head back to her enemy, trying to figure out a way to get out of this.
That was when she saw it.
Rin had managed to push her target just behind the golem attacking Eli. "Hoshizora!"
Just one look and Rin understood in an instant. While using her High Speed to replace Eli, the blonde turned to where Nozomi was still in trouble. She just needed two seconds to get there but obviously fate didn't want to be that generous.
When the golem in Nozomi's back raised his fist to attack, Eli casted her own spell. She pushed Nozomi away and replaced her just as the punch came down. "Ice Make – Hedgehog!" Barely in time, Eli's back became covered in ice, with sharp spikes growing everywhere. The impact still caused her to tumble forward while Nozomi just watched in shock. The golem's fist however crumbled into pieces while the creature itself fell backwards.
Gritting her teeth because of the pain the attack still had caused, Eli eyed the second golem in front of her. At the same time, Rin started her attack.
"Falcon Heavenward!"
"Ice Make – Snow Dragon!"
Just like before, Rin sent the golem she attacked flying backwards. But this time it hit the second one as well, caused both of them to fall to the ground.
Eli on the other hand created a dragon shaped sculpture, rushing to her target and wrapping itself around it, restraining it completely.
Now, with all five golems unable to move, they could finally call for their plan's last step.
"Kousaka!" "Honoka-chan!"
When Honoka appeared from behind Maki's and Hanayo's shelter, she thought back on the meeting last night. The plan as Maki had laid it down replayed itself in her head as she rushed forward, taking the path towards Jurek that had been opened by Rin and Eli with their last attacks.
"During your fight with him I've noticed several things." Maki had started. "First: He can control five golems, not just three. Second: For a golem to be recreated it has to be destroyed first. Third: He apparently can't destroy them himself. Fourth: As long as his golems are near him we won't get a chance to reach him. He will just advise one of his monsters to defend him." Everyone had been deep in thought. They had had to find a way to beat him with the nine of them and they had had to figure out something as soon as possible. "And what if we restrain them?" Nozomi had opted along the way. Umi had grown curious by that suggestion. "What exactly do you mean by that?" "Well," the purple haired mage had started. "He can't destroy them and if we do, he will create a new one. But what if we don't destroy them? What if we just prevent them from moving?" They all had looked at her with wide eyes. Nozomi had backed down a little bit, not accustomed by all these intense stares. Until Nico had spoken up. "I hate to admit that… but that's brilliant." "But that creates a new problem." Eli had chimed in. "We would have to defeat him with one attack." As if on cue everyone's eyes had darted down to the still broken floor, except Honoka's. Said girl had noticed the others' behaviour when everyone had turned towards her. "What?" "Crash Magic." Had been Umi's simple answer. "A hit charged with your magic should be strong enough to take this guy out." She had started to panic. "You can't be serious!" "We are, Kousaka." Maki had said while she had entered all new information into her system. Before Honoka could have said anything else, Mamoru had interrupted. "You can do it, Honoka-chan. Just trust yourself as much as they trust you."
And now, Honoka was actually charging towards her target.
She had felt the power of her magic cursing through her before. Most of the times it had been accidentally. Sometimes intentionally, for example when she had trained together with Mamoru-san a couple of times. But never had she been this nervous before. Never had someone actually relied on her magic.
And if she was honest with herself, this trust gave her enough courage to actually try.
With willpower she didn't know she possessed, Honoka felt her magic gathering in her right fist. A white light, similar to thunder, gathered around her hand like an orb. She passed Eli and Rin, barely registering them. And when she finally arrived, a meter between her and Jurek, her fist came down and hit the ground, followed by her voice. "Crashing: Herculean Fist!"
The last thing she registered was the ground beneath her splitting open and the shocked face of her enemy before her.
Arc 1 - The Union - Finished
AN: It's been a while, huh? But this project isn't dead, I just had some other problems and my beta's had a lot off stuff to do, too. So please accept almost 14k words as an apology.
Until next time. And there will be a next time, I promise.